We proceed with many things unknowingly, be it the way we handle our cell phones or any other gadgets. We keep listening to music with the volume at its maximum, most of the times we don’t bother about the adverse effects as we don’t have any idea about the same. Sometimes we plug in our mobiles throughout the night because we might have to catch a flight next morning and our intention is to look at our mobile fully charged, but how about the consequences?
Least we know about that, at a time when the smartphone is basically an extension of self, this is surely one of the most relevant questions we could ask ourselves.
At one or other moment, we’ve all done it, the idea is to wake for the day with 100 percent charge on your smartphone’s battery. But then you heard that charging your phone overnight damages the battery and eats away at its capacity over time, so you turn to Google for answers probably ending up disappointed or at least, shocked.
Here we did this research for you, yes, you can leave your phone plugged in overnight. This wasn’t always the case, though, so be sure to read on to find out the truth behind this old advice. We’ve also attached some charging do’s and don’ts at the end to help you make your smartphone battery last longer.
Lithium Or Nickel Battery?
It is well known that majority are lithium ion batteries. Long back, batteries were primarily made of the nickel like the Duracell and Energizer batteries you buy in stores. Nickel-based batteries exhibited a tendency to have a cyclic memory. If they weren’t given full charges in between cycles, they might “forget” their full capacity and remember the point to which they were last charged as being the maximum capacity. Many of us have never used nickel-based batteries in our mobile devices since the transition to lithium ion had occurred by the early 2000s.
There’s a benefit in using Lithium ones over Nickel, Lithium batteries played a major part in the mobile phone revolution. For one thing, they’re able to hold a lot of power while remaining fairly compact, which allowed mobile phones to become increasingly small and thin. Also, lithium batteries have a much better lifespan and recharge fairly quickly.
Heat Factor:
What worries a good and healthy battery is ‘temperature’, being cold is not good but being too much hotter us definitely bad for a long life of the battery. You might find your mobile scorching fire if you leave it plugged in throughout the night.
According to the statistics, a battery is capable of receiving a charge — is 32° to 113℉. Meanwhile, lithium-based batteries can discharge at temperatures as low as -4℉. Fast-charging technologies work best at warmer temperatures between 41° and 113℉, with no charge capable of occurring when the temperature is lower than 32℉.
Few things must be noted down regarding the kind of batteries, a lithium-based battery can discharge at temperatures far below freezing, so keeping them in your kitchen freezer won’t prevent them from self-discharging.
Next, to that, a lithium ion battery warms up as it charges. As it gets warmer, it charges faster. But since a battery can’t hold more than its capacity, after reaching a full charge the battery expands the excess power by giving it off as heat. Overnight charging becomes a problem when a battery has no way to reroute the incoming current after reaching the energy it can handle.
However, there are certain notions that must be followed to keep your battery lost longer and stay healthier:
- There is a certain limit of battery charge and discharge cycles for any lithium battery, the capacity of the battery reduces with every cycle which means that we have to avoid charging it more often. To do this, try to keep your battery’s charge level between 40 percent and 80 percent power.
- Most fast or rapid charge systems cause the battery to become hot, which we now know is bad for your battery. If you’re using the fast charge option every single time, the battery is getting excess heat more often than it should, resulting in reducing the lifespan.
- The internal power meter in your smartphone, the part that determines the battery’s current power level — can sometimes get thrown off. You can recalibrate by doing a full discharge-and-charge cycle: Use your phone until it dies. Once it’s dead, charge it to full capacity while leaving its power off. Finally, power your phone back on and make sure it reads as fully charged; if it doesn’t, power off and continue charging.